Certainty

In an article in the New Republic last week Andrew Sullivan discusses the apparent schism in conservative ranks between the conservatives of faith and the conservatives of doubt. His article is an interesting one - with a lot of good stuff. But the more I think about it his division is a bit odd. Indeed, religious conservatives work, too often, from a point of certainty. But incidence of this error is not confined to the right. Are some of the manifold groups on the left that we constantly hear from any less certain of their convictions? The American political system is threatened by the politics of certainty.

That does not mean there are not issues where Americans have profound and fundamental disagreements. But we should all be cautious about advancing an idea while being unwilling to at least consider the alternative points of view.

No that does not make me think George Voinovich has a backbone - he is just a wimp.